Van explosion kills 10 at checkpoint in Philippine south: army

By Reuters &nbspJuly 31, 2018 | 09:49 am GMT+7 Philippine National Police Special Action Force personnel man a checkpoint in Marawi city, as government troops continue their assault against insurgents from the Maute group, in Philippines June 10, 2017. Photo by Reuters A soldier, five militiamen and four civilians, including a mother and her child, were killed. Others were wounded but the exact number of casualties remained unclear. An explosion inside a van killed at least 10 people at a military checkpoint in the restive southern Philippines on Tuesday, in what officials said may have been a bombing by militants with ties to the Islamic State group. The blast occurred moments after troops stopped the vehicle and spoke to the driver, according to an official on the island of Basilan and a military incident report. Basilan is a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf group, which is notorious for kidnapping and banditry, and home of the former “emir” of Islamic State in Southeast Asia, who was killed last year. Bombings of vehicles are extremely rare in the southern Philippines despite decades of separatist and Islamist violence and instability that has attracted foreign extremists. “We don’t know what the target was but it was prematurely detonated,” Lieutenant Colonel Mon Almodovar, commander of the scout ranger unit in the area, told news channel ANC. A soldier, five militiamen and four civilians, including a mother and her child, were killed. Others were wounded but the exact number of casualties remained unclear. Basilan governor Jim… [Read full story]